Job negotiations: Health and pet benefits
Are pet insurance benefits rivaling human insurance perks for 2022 job seekers?
Four years into being a full-time freelancer, I cannot imagine having to return to a Corporate America gig. It’s neither a culture I enjoyed nor was I comfortable in it. And with 65% of Generation Zers planning to quit their jobs this year (according to a Lever poll of 1.2K full-time employed adults), this Millennial is not alone. (I just walked away sooner.)
A worldwide pandemic can certainly make people reevaluate what they want in life and what can fall by the wayside. However, what’s intriguing to me is what it’s taking to get people to go back to work. In just about every retail store I go in, there are massive signs about hiring. While visiting one dollar store, I arrived at checkout and noticed a sign near the register. This chain was so desperate for employees that it offered to pay job applicants within 24 hours of hiring if they applied that day. And considering it took several minutes for a cashier to come to the register (who was on her smartphone talking to a friend about date night over the weekend), I can see why they needed more help.
But there’s another hiring trend that appears to be gaining in demand, especially for pet owners. Forbes is reporting more job applicants are inquiring about pet health insurance in addition to human health insurance packages. For non-pet owners, this demand probably sounds bizarre. But if you’re a pet owner, you know why applicants are asking.
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American Kennel Club confirms how expensive these four-legged roommates can be:
Small dog: $15,051 (average life expectancy of 15 years)
Medium dog: $15,782 (average life expectancy of 13 years)
Large dog: $14,480 (average life expectancy of 10 years)
While 2020 and 2021 got a boost in pet adoptions, even in an average year, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reports that approximately 78 million dogs and 85.8 million cats are owned in the United States. And unless they got these pets from someone’s litter, they spent a few hundred dollars simply adopting the pet. At my own pet adoption agency (Felines & Canines), dogs under six months old cost $400 and adult dogs cost $350.
Recommended Read: “Is pet insurance worth it? ~ Will a savings account be of more use than pet insurance?”
So knowing how much money goes into owning a pet, it makes sense that job applicants want to know how they can save money on their pet dog or pet cat in the event of an emergency. Here’s how to go about navigating the pet-friendly job process, from dog-friendly workplaces to pet insurance.